Central ND News

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota has co-sponsored four legislative bills aimed at countering the Biden administration's regulations on electric vehicles (EVs). These regulations have been described as directives for mass adoption, compelling manufacturers to increase EV production and potentially banning gasoline-powered vehicle sales.

Cramer criticized the Biden administration's approach, stating, "For four long years, the Biden administration pushed EV mandate after EV mandate, attempting to force consumers toward costly vehicles." He added that the proposed bills would "roll back Washington’s burdensome, heavy-handed rules, putting consumers and their choice in the driver’s seat."

The Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act is led by U.S. Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho. This bill seeks to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final tailpipe emissions standards for passenger cars and trucks. These standards are viewed as a de facto mandate for electric vehicles. The act also aims to ensure future regulations do not restrict new motor vehicle availability based on engine type.

Another bill, introduced by U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, is titled the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act. It aims to maintain consumer choice and competition by preventing the implementation of EPA's Advanced Clean Cars II regulation which intends to ban conventional gasoline-powered car sales by 2035.

The Freedom to Haul Act was put forward by U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan from Alaska. This legislation seeks to protect the trucking industry from what it describes as impractical mandates by blocking the implementation of EPA’s “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3” rule.

Lastly, U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced the Stop California from Advancing Regulatory Burden (Stop CARB) Act. This act targets Clean Air Act waiver exemptions that allow California and other states to set national emissions standards higher than those established by EPA.